How Do You Accompany A Singer On Piano?
• Practice with a singer on piano — much as it is often done on guitar like strumming — so, you will follow the singers lead and not: • Need to play the notes of the “melody” while the singer is voicing them, • Or set the “tempo” as the soloist may have slow and fast parts for emphasis, etc. • Or decide the “rhythm” if the singer has an interpretation, • So, you do not decide the “style”… Don’t do the singer’s job. • Play non-obnoxiously (not too loudly) as the basic technique. Think about accompanying in a group with a guitar player who can lightly strum chords while the drummer may use brushes or soft drumming style, etc. but of course some singers, as an alternative, may have a style where the instruments are pretty loud… • Lighten up as a piano accompanist and even just use one hand to play the rhythm while chording so that it is not like “clump, clump…” explained in detail below. Using the piano for accompanying will often involve both hands for turn around parts, left han
